title
Minutes for the Depository Board meeting on August 25, 2009.
body
Board members Mayor Perrin, chair, City Clerk Donna Jackson and City Collector Becky Sharp were all in attendance. Also in attendance were Finance Director Jim Barksdale and Assistant City Accountant Jim Eagan.
Mr. Barksdale discussed bidding out the special funds, such as the Advertising and Promotion Fund, separately since they are not part of the General Fund. He also noted he and Ms. Sharp will be visiting banks to discuss the accounts with them because they are not getting much response from the information that is being sent out. Mr. Barksdale explained they usually get a better response if he or Ms. Sharp speaks with the banks. Chairman Perrin questioned how often the rates change. Mr. Barksdale stated the rates are updated quarterly and the rate is currently 1.55% based on the 26-week T-bill rate, which just went up 8 basis points.
Mr. Eagan then discussed the cash balances report. He explained they are looking at each fund’s balance each day so they can better monitor the funds. Chairman Perrin noted the report reflects the City having $20 million in cash balance and they expect another $1 million to come in from reimbursements due to the ice storm earlier this year. He also noted last year at this time the balance was about $27 million, which means the account is about $7 million lower than this time last year. He explained $2.8 million is due to paying off the leases. Mr. Barksdale added another $3 million is due to fixed asset purchases. Discussion was held concerning the fixed asset purchases.
Chairman Perrin asked for revenue and expense projections for the rest of the year to be presented at the next Depository Board meeting. In reference to the cash balances report, he also asked for the report to show the cash balance from last year at this time so they can easily compare this year to last year.
Mr. Eagan next discussed the deposit collateralization report, noting that at the end of July there was $1.75 million in Liberty Bank that was uncollateralized and uninsured. He explained the uncollateralization was due to moving of funds and it has been corrected. Chairman Perrin stated he does not ever want to see an uncollateralized amount from any of the banks.
Chairman Perrin then questioned whether the City is bidding the bank services this year or whether last year’s bid was for two years. Mr. Barksdale answered the ordinance was only for one year, but he would like to bid this year with an option for multiple years similar to what the school district did. Discussion was held concerning when the bids would be let out for the banking services. Chairman Perrin asked for the bids to go out next week due to the 2010 budget timeline.
Ms. Jackson questioned whether anything was done about the CDs as discussed at the previous meeting. Mr. Barksdale answered no, because they were unable to meet the criteria of the rates increasing 25 basis points. Chairman Perrin explained in order to get 25 basis points a bank would have to bid 1.80%, but no one bid that amount.
Chairman Perrin also questioned whether the Finance Department keeps the collateralization reports. Mr. Eagan answered yes, they keep them on a monthly basis.
Mr. Eagan then discussed the review of interest earned report. He noted the rate changed on July 23rd to 1.55%. He explained the report shows the City earned 1.4% on all deposits overall, which is a good rate to earn overall. Further discussion was held concerning the report. Chairman Perrin referred to the report and questioned why a $2 million account only earned 0.59%. Ms. Sharp explained the money in the account couldn’t be moved until the 2008 books were closed.
Mr. Eagan discussed the bank reconciliation summary of cash balances report. He noted there will be some outages on the report, but they are in the process of finding some of the errors that have occurred prior to 2009. He added after they have finished their research some of the outages should go away. Discussion was then held regarding the cafeteria fund. Chairman Perrin suggested providing the bank reconciliation report to the Council every month. Mr. Barksdale stated they are planning to provide it to at least the Finance Committee every month.
Ms. Jackson motioned, seconded by Ms. Sharp, to approve the minutes of the July 21, 2009, meeting. All voted aye.
With no further business, Ms. Jackson motioned, seconded by Ms. Sharp, to adjourn. All voted aye.
After the meeting adjourned, it was decided to hold the next Depository Board meeting on September 22, 2009, in order to review bank bids.